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The cost of federal regulation neared $2 trillion in 2014, according to a new report by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI).

Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State, a report by Clyde Wayne Crews, CEI’s vice president for policy, also reveals that the U.S. debt now exceeds the size of China’s economy.

“Federal regulation and intervention cost American consumers and businesses an estimated $1.88 trillion in 2014 in lost economic productivity and higher prices,” amounting to roughly $15,000 per household, the report said.

The report found that the federal bureaucracy – made up of 60 agencies, departments, and commissions – has 3,415 regulations in the process of being finalized, meaning that the number of regulations far surpasses the number of laws passed by Congress.

“In 2014, agencies issued 16 new regulations for every law – that’s 3,554 new regulations compared to 224 new laws,” the report said.

CEI, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, found that the Departments of the Treasury, Commerce, Interior, Health and Human Services (HHS), Transportation (DOT), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) account for 48 percent of all federal regulations.

The EPA issued 539 final rules in the Federal Register last year, up 12.5 percent in five years.

Enforcing regulations alone cost the government $59.5 billion in 2014.

Government regulation has led to a hidden “tax” for Americans, the report said, as businesses pass along compliance costs to consumers.

“Economy-wide regulatory costs amount to an average of $14,976 per household – around 29 percent of an average family budget of $51,100,” the report said. “Although not paid directly by individuals, this ‘cost’ of regulation exceeds the amount an average family spends on health care, food and transportation.”

Aside from passing costs onto consumers, the report said, regulation is a way for the federal government to further agendas without relying on the legislative system.

“Rather than pay directly and book expenses for new initiatives, federal regulations can compel the private sector, as well as state and local governments, to bear the costs of federal initiatives,” the report said.

Regulations hit small businesses the hardest, averaging $11,724 per employee for firms that employ fewer than 50 people in 2012. The overall cost per employee for all companies comes to $9,991.

The cost of regulation has grown so large, according to the report, that if it was a country “it would be the world’s 10th largest economy, ranking behind Russia and ahead of India.”

The regulatory state has been growing for decades. The report notes that 90,836 rules have been issued since 1993.

The Federal Register, the government’s official record for all federal regulations, was
77,687 pages long at the end of 2014, the sixth-highest page count in history.

“Among the six all-time-high Federal Register page counts, five have occurred under President Obama,” CEI said.

The report also noted that the national debt, which currently stands at $18.152 trillion, is now larger than China’s economy. China surpassed the U.S. to become the largest economy in the world last December.

“The national debt topped $18 trillion in December 2014,
the same month the International Monetary Fund calculated China’s economy to
be worth $17.6 trillion in terms of purchasing power parity, making it the world’s largest economy (albeit still significantly lagging the United States on a per capita basis),” CEI said.

Senior officials at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation actively sought to crack down on legal businesses that the Obama administration – or the officials themselves – deemed morally objectionable, a new congressional report finds.

Released today by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the 20-page investigative report details how the FDIC worked closely with the Justice Department to implement Operation Choke Point, a secretive program that seeks to cut off the financial lifeblood of payday lenders and other industries the administration doesn’t like.

The FDIC is the primary agency responsible for regulating and auditing more than 4,500 U.S. banks.

Emails unearthed by investigators show regulatory officials scheming to influence banks’ decisions on who to do business with by labeling certain industries “reputational risks,” ensuring banks “get the message” about the businesses the regulators don’t like, and pressuring banks to cut credit or close those accounts, effectively driving enterprises out of business.

The House panel’s investigation, led by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, cites confidential briefing documents that show senior Justice Department officials informing Attorney General Eric Holder that, as a consequence of Operation Choke Point, banks are “exiting” lines of business deemed “high risk’” by regulators.

“It’s appalling that our government is working around the law to vindictively attack businesses they find objectionable,” Issa, chairman of the Oversight Committee, said in a press release. Issa added:

Internal FDIC documents confirm that Operation Choke Point is an extraordinary abuse of government power. In the most egregious cases, federal bureaucrats injected personal moral judgments into the regulatory process. Such practices are totally inconsistent with basic principles of good government, transparency and the rule of law.

For example, email reveals FDIC employees opposing the payday lending industry on “personal grounds” and attempting to use their agency’s supervisory authority to drive the entire industry out of business.

One email from Thomas Dujenski, FDIC’s Atlanta regional director, to Mark Pearce, director of the Division of Depositor and Consumer Protection, was particularly concerning to investigators.

In it, Dujenski writes:

I have never said this to you (but I am sincerely passionate about this)… but I literally cannot stand the pay day lending industry… I had extensive involvement with this group of lenders and was instrumental in drafting guidance on stopping abuses.

In another example, a senior official insisted that FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg’s letters to Congress and talking points always mention pornography when discussing payday lenders and other targeted industries, in an effort to convey a “good picture regarding the unsavory nature of the businesses at issue.”

Payday loans are small, short-term loans supposedly made to hold borrowers over until their next payday.

Norbert Michel, research fellow in financial regulations at The Heritage Foundation, said payday lenders, along with some other industries targeted by Choke Point, all have been criticized for taking advantage of the poor or financially strapped by charging exorbitant fees or leaving customers in more debt than they started with.

The Obama administration contends that Operation Choke Point combats unlawful, mass-market consumer fraud. However, an earlier report by the House Oversight Committee found that the Justice Department initiative’s targets included legal businesses such as short-term lenders, firearms and ammunition merchants, coin dealers, tobacco sellers and home-based charities.

Today’s report, investigators said, confirmed that the FDIC originated the controversial list of “high risk” industries that it posted on its website, as previously reported by The Daily Signal.

Critics of the program argue that equating legal industries such as ammunition and lottery sales with explicitly illegal or offensive activities such as pornography and racist materials transforms the FDIC into the moral police.

Apparently, FDIC officials were aware of the “inherent impropriety” of these policies, the report indicates. In another email, David Barr, assistant director of the FDIC’s public affairs office, wrote:

[S]ome of the pushback from the Hill is that it is not up to the FDIC to decide what is moral and immoral, but rather what type of lending is legal.

When employers provide coverage, their contributions, averaging more than $5,000 a year per employee, are not counted as taxable income to workers. But the Internal Revenue Service said employers could not meet their obligations under the health care law by simply reimbursing employees for some or all of their premium costs.

The IRS ruling is an effort by the Obama administration to stop employers with 50 or more workers from doing what critics of the health law said they would do: pay a penalty for not providing insurance and dump workers into the unpopular Obamacare program.

With the Nov. 4 midterm elections looming, the Obama administration could not allow massive waves of employer cancellations before Democrats face an already angry electorate. So the IRS ruled it would slap any employer with a $100 tax penalty per day per worker that used tax-exempt health insurance monies to cut workers a lump check and dump them on the Obamacare exchanges.

The new IRS rule comes on the heels of the Obama administration’s announcement that it will bail out insurers which participate in the Obamacare program which lose cash. As the Times notes, “Administration officials hope the payments will stabilize premiums and prevent rate increases that could embarrass Democrats in this year’s midterm elections.”

Hundreds of angry protesters turned into arsonists, attacking around 160 houses and 80 shops of Christians on Saturday, just a day after allegations of blasphemy were levelled against a man in the Badami Bagh area.

Several policemen, including SSP (Operations) Suhail Sukhera and the Badami Bagh SHO received multiple injuries when the angry mob pelted stones on them during a clash.

The Saint Joseph Colony and its surrounding areas turned into a battlefield when angry protesters started torching the houses and shops.

Upon being informed about the incident, police contingents and rescue teams reached the spot and tried to control the situation.

According to witnesses, the mob broke into the houses, looted them and burnt the remaining belongings in the streets. They said that on Friday, a large number of protesters forced the Christian community members to flee the area, leaving behind their homes and possessions unprotected. They said that the mob had gathered around St Joseph Colony on Noor Road at around 10am, led by a man named Shafiq Ahmed, who was in search of the accused, Sawan, alias Bubby.

They said that the mob first attacked Sawan’s house, setting it on fire and pelting it with stones, and then attacked other houses of the colony.

Badami Bagh SHO Hafiz Abdul Majid told Daily Times that police had controlled the situation after hours of struggle. He said that 12 policemen, including the SSP (operations), had also been injured in the attack. He said that the police had obtained the footage of the incident, and people involved in the incident were being identified.

He assured that stern action would be taken against the arsonists. However, the police had not registered a case until the filing of this report. Witnesses Majid, Iqbal, Afzal and others told Daily Times that tension began when a local Christian, Sawan, was accused of uttering blasphemous remarks three days ago. They said that the accused and complainant Shahid Imran, also a resident of Badami Bagh, were best friend and used to drink together. They said that they had quarrelled under influence of alcohol over some minor issue two days ago. The next day, Shahid Imran accused Sawan of using derogatory remarks for Prophet Muhammad (PUBH) and approached the Badami Bagh police for registration of a case against Sawan, his wife Bilo and daughters Elizabeth, Nusrat and Bushra.

The police had registered a case against Sawan and booked him under Section 295-C.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf showed deep concern over the arson attack in Lahore and issued directions for an expeditious inquiry into the incident. President Zardari also took notice of the incident and called for a report in this regard.

Several Philadelphia labor groups allegedly used feces, urine, spit, and fire to persuade businesses to hire union labor and area businesses are fighting back.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Monday ordered members of the International Board of Teamsters Local 107, Pennsylvania’s self-described “most powerful labor organization,” to stop assaulting and spitting on employees, vandalizing vehicles, and obstructing business operations at the Eureka Stone Quarry, Inc.

Jim Morrissey III, whose grandfather started the cement mixing and construction service company, launched the suit after striking drivers dragged a company mechanic from his truck after obstructing the road with nails – an incident captured on surveillance tape.

“He was scared to death, surrounded by six to eight guys he thought were his friends,” Morrissey said.

“This fella’s so litigious that anything that’s said or done with this particular labor dispute is exaggerated,” Dougherty said. “We normally don’t comment on the NLRB decisions.”

Morrissey says he is not anti-labor. He decided to appeal to federal authorities after concluding that local officials would turn a blind eye to the issues plaguing his business.

“I had no choice but the NLRB: They said they were going to put me out of business and they’ve put a tremendous amount of pressure on other groups to not hire us,” he said. “The unions in Philly run the show; it’s a big joke with the police and the politicians – they just look the other way.”

Leo Knepper, executive director at the Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania, said the legacy of union dominance in the “Keystone State” has created an aura of invincibility among labor groups.

“When anything threatens [union] interests, they react violently,” he said. “Unions have such a strong influence in local politics that it gives them carte blanche to do whatever they want because no one is willing to enforce the law against these guys.”

Morrissey says union intimidation tactics are no longer effective with the availability and affordability of surveillance.

“When you have them on tape, they can’t deny it,” he said. “Technology changes everything and the unions aren’t savvy enough to get that.”

No company has employed technology as devastatingly as Post Brothers Apartments, a real estate firm engaged in a drawn out and oftentimes violent campaign by the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council over a $38 million apartment development at the abandoned Goldtex shoe factory.

Post Brothers awarded half of its construction contracts to union shops. The council demanded 100 percent of the contracts and began picketing and vandalizing the site when construction began in 2012.

The company launched a public campaign of its own after workers discovered feces and urine scattered at the site, oil dumped on its parking lot, and asbestos installed in walls, according to Post Brothers CEO Michael Pestronk.

The company has posted YouTube videos of union leaders assaulting security guards, shared photos of smashed windshields on a public Google Docs account, and argued its case against the unions through its website, PhillyBully.com.

“Our employees feared for their lives, so we got the equipment for personal protection,” Pestronk said. “It wasn’t some masterful calculation: changing political institutions [or] buying politicians costs millions, posting videos to YouTube is cheap and it gets you public attention.”

The Trades Council did not return calls for comment.

The website is already paying dividends. A union member allegedly assaulted Post Brothers employees Chris Gardner and Matt Hunt in December with a crowbar after they attempted to park their car near the work site. Gardner was arrested for assault when he subdued his attacker, who was not charged in the incident.

The police dropped the charges on Tuesday thanks in part to the company’s photo and video evidence, “but mostly because our attorney threatened to sue the city, the police, and the [district attorney],” Pestronk said.

The young real estate executive said he hopes PhillyBully.com “sets an example” on how to combat union intimidation.

“They’re getting desperate so it appears [violence] has been ramping up,” he said. “The mainstream media is not calling attention to it, so it really helps to use YouTube to subvert them and make them pay attention.”

New media is not the only tactic businesses are using to curb union violence. The eastern Pennsylvania chapter of the Association of Builders and Contractors, which represents open shop construction companies, is now offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the union members suspected of burning down a Quaker meetinghouse construction site a few days before Christmas.

“We’ve seen a steady pattern of violence on open shop projects in Philadelphia—anytime open house contractors come in there’s retaliation,” said chapter president Mary Tebeau. “We’re afraid that business owners and developers will bypass this area, so to combat that we came up with a reward to punish those responsible for the bombing.”

A Philadelphia Police Department spokeswoman told the Washington Free Beacon that there have been no arrests in connection to the incident.

Robert Reeves, president of E. Allen Reeves, Inc., the firm building the Quaker meetinghouse, echoed Tebeau’s concerns, adding that bounties will not do much to deter future violence without institutional change.

“I think there’s a resurgence in violence because unions are contemplating their loss of market share,” he said. “I wish that leaders in the Philadelphia region would speak up against violence. They don’t tolerate it in schools, but they look the other way when it’s their supporters.”

Some politicians at the state level are looking to diminish the amount of influence wielded by unions at the state and local level through labor reforms, including right-to-work legislation introduced earlier this year.

“There are a lot of unfair policies enacted on behalf of Big Labor back when it had clout, but the demographics spell trouble for unions,” central Pennsylvania state Rep. Stephen Bloom said. “The Philadelphia area is still a bastion for union influence, but it’s waning there as it is across the state and the balance of power is shifting and inevitably we’ll get to the point where we’ll adopt labor reforms necessary for economic survival.”

When Burt Rico was caught using a deer feeder equipped with lights while hunting in Louisiana, he was slapped with a $1,051 fine and sentenced to 60 days in jail. He was cited for hunting without a big-game license, failing to wear hunter orange and hunting deer with an artificial light.

Until he was cited, he didn’t know he had done anything wrong, he claims.

Rico’s case isn’t an isolated one. According to a new report by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, thousands of people are being prosecuted for environmental crimes every day they didn’t know were even on the books. They’ve been threatened, fined and thrown in jail. The trend is especially prominent along the Gulf Coast, but is becoming a national issue.

In Texas, there are 11 felonies relating to harvesting oysters that can land a person in prison for a decade. In the Carolinas, government officials have cracked down on fishermen – both commercial and sport – and in some cases cut off their ability to make a living.

“There isn’t a day I go out where a rule, law or regulation is not broken,” Capt. Terrell Gould told FoxNews.com.

As head of a family-run business in North Carolina that takes customers on deep-sea fishing trips, Gould is just one of a growing group who say they have suffered at the hands of regulators imposing stiff fines and disproportionate penalties. The government tells him when, where and what he can catch.

“Total control of your life – that’s what they want,” said Gould. “You take away the incentive for somebody to do something bit by bit by bit. It’s like peeling the layers off an onion. You can only peel so much and then you don’t have any onion left.”

The growing web of laws that can land unwitting violators in jail is commonly referred to as “overcriminalization.” These are not laws prohibiting fundamentally wrong behavior like murder or rape. Critics say these laws create offenses that violators often don’t realize are illegal until it’s too late.

Punishment can range from a few hundred dollars in fees to lengthy prison terms. Some say the extraordinary expansion of the criminal code on federal, state and local levels leaves the public exposed to abuse at the hands of officials.

When it comes to environmental laws, the states getting hit the hardest are the five that border the Gulf of Mexico – Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Among them, nearly 1,000 laws criminalizing activities along the coast have been put on the books, Texas Public Policy Foundation analyst Vikrant Reddy said.

While there is no concrete figure, there are an estimated 300,000-400,000 environmental laws, statutes and mandates believed to be in circulation nationally. Many can land a person in prison, regardless of whether another person, plant or animal is harmed.

In Louisiana alone, there are more than 280 offenses relating to hunting, fishing and wildlife that could get a person locked up for a long time. If a shrimper in the state picks up another person’s broken crab trap and throws it away on land, he or she could be sent to prison for two months. If it happens more than once, there is a mandatory prison stay.

In Alabama, getting rid of scrap tires in an “unauthorized” manner is considered a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

In Mississippi, a person can spend six months in the slammer for “wounding, drowning, shooting, capturing, taking or otherwise killing any deer from a boat.”

The onslaught of environmental laws has clogged the legal system and pitted residents against powerful prosecutors. The vagueness and overreach of the laws can be staggering, Reddy told FoxNews.com.

Many people who are prosecuted lack the funds to mount a decent legal defense. Some say they have been forced to sell their homes and businesses and have spent years on the losing end of litigation. For others, the easiest course for some has been to plead guilty and do their time behind bars. But being labeled a felon can leave a lasting mark on someone’s professional and personal reputation. Trying to find a job, buy a home or buy a car becomes more difficult.

Part of the problem is that no one knows the total number of federal criminal laws on the books. Big and bulky, the federal criminal code is chock full of obtuse and obscure laws.

“You will have died and resurrected three times,” and still be trying to figure out the answer, retired Justice Department official Ronald Gainer once told The Wall Street Journal in a report about the bloated volumes of criminal law.

Anthony Overton, an associate professor at East Carolina University, says there may be a method behind the madness.

Ovterton said that many of the laws that don’t make sense to most people are in fact logical to local communities.

“Many of these laws, as absurd as they seem, target a localized problem,” he said. “You can’t shoot a deer from a boat. That probably happens a lot in Mississippi where someone is going down the river and sees a boat on someone’s property and starts shooting.”

But in his book “Three Felonies a Day,” Boston-based attorney Harvey Silverglate says criminal laws have become dangerously disconnected and that prosecutors can pin crimes on anyone.

However, stock prices are not the only thing taking a hit. It appears that the job market is also suffering. In the last 48 hours, the following major corporations have announced layoffs in America (links take you to news stories about the layoffs – with details from the companies):

………………

* Energizer –
The St. Louis-based company said Thursday that it expects to shed about 1,500 employees. When finished, the restructuring should lead to $200 million in pretax yearly savings, Energizer said. It aims to have most of its restructuring steps finished by the end of September 2014.

* Westinghouse –
Westinghouse Anniston, the contractor responsible for shutting down Anniston’s chemical weapons incinerator, has reduced its workforce by another 50 employees.

* Research in Motion Limited –
Research in Motion Ltd., the maker of BlackBerry smartphones, laid off about 200 people at its U.S. headquarters in Irving on Wednesday, according to a source close to the company who did not want to be named.

* Lightyear Network Solutions –
More than one dozen employees at a Pikeville company lost their jobs this week. Officials with Lightyear Network Solutions said they are consolidating offices in Louisville and Pikeville to save money.

* Providence Journal –
The Providence Journal Co. laid off 23 full-time workers Wednesday as part of a cost-cutting effort, including 16 members of the Providence Newspaper Guild and 7 non-union employees.

* Hawker Beechcraft –
The company says 240 employees will lose their jobs with the closing of Hawker Beechcraft Services facilities in Little Rock, Ark.; Mesa, Ariz.; and San Antonio, Texas.

* Boeing (30% of their management staff) –
Boeing Co. said Wednesday it plans to employ 30% fewer executives at its Boeing Defense, Space & Security unit by the end of 2012 compared to 2010 levels.

* CVPH Medical Center –
CVPH Medical Center has handed pink slips to 17 employees. The layoffs – nine in management and eight hourly staffers – are part of an effort to “help bolster the hospital’s financial position in 2013 and beyond,” a press release said.

* US Cellular –
The move will result in 980 job cuts at U.S. Cellular, with 640 in the Chicago area, according to a spokeswoman. The cuts are slightly under 12 percent of the approximately 8,400 total employees U.S. Cellular had at the end of the third quarter.

* Momentive Performance Materials –
About 150 workers at Sistersville’s Momentive Performance Materials plant will be temporarily laid off later this month, officials said this week.

* Rocketdyne –
About 100 employees at Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, most of whom work in the San Fernando Valley, were laid off Wednesday in response to dwindling government spending on space exploration, the company said. The layoffs were effective immediately, and 75 percent of them came at the facilities on Canoga and De Soto avenues, which employ about 1,100 people. The company has six sites across the Valley.

* Brake Parts –
The leader of an automotive parts plant in Lincoln County has told state officials that there are plans to lay off 75 workers starting in late December…The layoffs are expected to start Dec. 28 and continue in the first quarter of 2013

* Vestas Wind Systems –
Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS) is seeking to sell a stake of as much as 20 percent and said it’s reducing headcount by 3,000 to raise the staff cuts by the biggest wind turbine maker to almost a third over two years.

* Husqvarna –
Husqvarna AB (HUSQB), the world’s biggest maker of powered garden tools, plans to cut about 600 jobs in a move that will save 220 million kronor ($33 million) a year by 2014.

* Center for Hospice New York –
The Center for Hospice and Palliative Care plans to temporarily lay off as many as 40 employees next year as it embarks on a major renovation of the inpatient unit at its Cheektowaga campus.

* Bristol-Meyers –
Bristol-Myers Squibb is following up its lackluster third-quarter results with almost 480 layoffs. As Pharmalot reports, the company notified the New Jersey government that it would scale back in Plainsboro, which means the cuts will hit its sales operations.

* OCE North America –
Trumbull printer- and scanning-equipment provider Oce North America, Inc. will lay off 135 workers in three Connecticut communities, including East Hartford, according to its notice with the state Labor Department.

* Darden Restaurants –
The company, which was among those who had received an Obamacare waiver in the past, is looking to limit workers to 28 hours per week. A full time employee that is required to have health insurance (lest the employer pay a fine) works 30 hours per week, as defined by the Obamacare law.

* West Ridge Mine –
In its statement, UtahAmerican Energy blames the Obama administration for instituting policies that will close down “204 American coal-fired power plants by 2014? and for drastically reducing the market for coal.

* United Blood Services Gulf –
United Blood Services Gulf South region, the non-profit blood service provider for much of south Louisiana and Mississippi, will lay off approximately 10 percent of its workforce. It was a hard decision to make according to Susan Begnaud, Regional Center Director for the Gulf South region.

A layoff is tough enough for employees to deal with, imagine hearing the crushing news that your office is shutting down just before Thanksgiving and Christmas… Here are some of the business closings that were announced in just the past two days:

On Monday, Sandra Romero chaired an Agri-tourism work session at Thurston County and rolled out the first draft of her proposed Agri-tourism ordinance.

The ordinance is designed to overlay zones that don’t currently allow agriculture and loosen regulation in an effort to promote agriculture-related business and tourism in those areas – think pumpkin patches and you-cut-it tree farms.

I read the ordinance and I was stunned.

If you were considering starting your own business – just guessing here – more customers would be a good thing? Well guess what? This ordinance will place a cap on the number of customers allowed per day. Depending on the kind of business, your customer range will be limited to 20-39 customers per day.

I know, it’s unbelievable. You’re thinking, “This has to be a joke, right?” Nope. Sorry. This is no joke. Sandra Romero, Thurston County Commissioner, actually thinks this is a good thing and will “preserve and support the agricultural industry of Thurston County as a viable economic activity…” Really now? Just to prove it, you can read the draft yourself. [download it here].

Fortunately, the electorate of Thurston County are still literate – and watching.

This ordinance is planned failure.

One note that is interesting, is Scott Longanecker, planner with Thurston County, claimed authorship of the ordinance at the beginning of the meeting. After a few objections, Sandra Romero outed him and told the committee that the ordinance was simply copied from another state. You might ask, “Where?” – Mariposa County, CALIFORNIA.

I do have to give Scott Longanecker some credit. He did a complete copy and paste of Mariposa County’s ordinance and then did a few modifications. He made it even MORE RESTRICTIVE. Just in case you would like to read the California ordinance you can [download it here].

Mariposa County, California allows bed and breakfasts in their agri-tourism ordinance, but Longanecker conveniently deleted that paragraph. Mariposa County, California also allows (5) guest rooms in their agricultural homestay, Longanecker changed that to (3).

The Thurston County Economic Development Council was at the table participating in the work session. Michael Cade, Executive Director was there. I thought that he would weigh in and talk some common sense into the Thurston County staffer and Commissioner Romero. He could have talked about free-market principles and how less regulation is good for promoting business. Unfortunately, and to my great disappointment, he didn’t. Instead, he said that the ordinance was “progressive”. He thought that there was some work that needed to be done, but he thought it was a good start.

Most members, however, did object to the ordinance including Glen Morgan, the STOP Thurston County project manager. He offered a solution to Commissioner Romero. He said that Thurston County shouldn’t waste any more time writing ordinances and if they needed a good starting point they should contact the Farm Bureau. He thought the Farm Bureau could give them an ordinance that would be good for agriculture. Nice suggestion Captain Obvious.

Thurston County needs to keep to basics: Health, Safety and Roads. STOP your social engineering experiment, you’re embarrassing yourselves. Government need not be flashy or trendy. Just keep it to the basics. Find ways to reduce restrictions, STOP piling them on.